Head - Merchandising

Job description / Role

About the company

We are an omnichannel fashion and lifestyle destination that offers over 1400 fashion and beauty brands in the UAE, KSA, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, and Qatar. Customers can shop the latest on-trend outfits, shoes, bags, beauty essentials, and accessories from international brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Hugo, Marks & Spencer, Dune London, Charles & Keith, Aldo, Crocs, Birkenstock, Skechers, Levi's, Nike, Adidas, L'Oréal, and Inglot, among many more. We recently opened the GCC's first phygital store at Dubai Hills Mall; an innovative tech-led space which combines the best of both online and offline shopping with online browsing and smart fitting rooms.

About the team

You will own the weekly merchandising horizon, working directly with category, marketing, creative, and demand planning teams to understand the constraints of the business and build strategic roadmaps that unlock growth in revenue across all categories while streamlining the process for long-term goals.

Your focus will be collaborating with brands, managing merchandising strategy and operations, onsite calendar, sale event planning, store-in-store, brand pages, and more—creating paths forward and understanding local trends to forecast and help the marketing and category teams grow revenue.

Using analytical tools such as Excel and Tableau dashboards, you will review plans and drive insights, transforming complex data into readable and actionable formats for leadership's decision making and other stakeholders.

You will lead key projects working closely with local brand teams and the country manager, driving achievement of key goals set for the financial year. While primarily an office-based role, this position includes minimal travel to other regions of Saudi Arabia to gain a deeper understanding of the customer, operations, brands, and category.

Key job responsibilities

• Develop end-to-end merchandising strategy and customer experience onsite (app and web).
• Identify and execute opportunities for optimization of site search, product data, product sorting, filters/facets, product recommendations, up-sells/cross-sells, product taxonomy, and content strategies.
• Manage the merchandising calendar to accurately schedule website content and organize support for digital marketing efforts.
• Monitor product category performance to identify areas with opportunity for growth.
• Monitor and analyze key performance indicators (KPIs) such as traffic, conversion rates, sales, and customer satisfaction.
• Implement digital marketing initiatives, such as SEO, SEM, email marketing, and social media, to drive traffic and sales.
• Optimize the website for user experience, including navigation, search functionality, and mobile responsiveness.
• Plan and execute seasonal and promotional campaigns to increase sales and boost customer engagement.
• Analyze customer behavior and trends to identify growth opportunities and areas for improvement.
• Monitor website functionality and handle troubleshooting issues with the e-commerce platform, including technical problems and user experience challenges.
• Analyze data from Google Analytics, CRM systems, and other tools to monitor site traffic and customer behavior.
• Track and report e-commerce performance, including sales, conversion rates, and ROI on digital marketing campaigns.
• Troubleshoot and drive resolutions with product teams.

Preferred qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in e-commerce merchandising or category marketing role.
• Expertise in digital marketing techniques, including SEO, SEM, and social media marketing.
• Proficient in web analytics tools (e.g., Google Analytics) and e-commerce tracking tools.
• Excellent analytical skills and proficiency with CRM software and MS Excel.
• Knowledge of UX/UI principles and how they impact online sales.
• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to adapt to a fast-paced, evolving industry.
• Solid communication and organizational skills, with the ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously.
• Knowledge of Excel at an intermediate level (e.g., pivot tables and charts, multiple criteria lookups, nested logical/IF formulas, data cleansing, array formulas, etc.).
• English and Arabic fluency.

Benefits

• Full-time role
• Competitive salary
• Company employee discounts across all brands
• Health insurance
• Collaborative work environment
• Good vibes work culture

About the Company

The Apparel Group is a global fashion and lifestyle brand conglomerate residing on the crossroads of a modern economy - Dubai, UAE. The mercurial growth in the last 17 years has been by acquiring a host of world class fashion labels from around the world - Nine West, Tommy Hilfiger, Kenneth Cole, Aldo & Tim Hortons just to name a few.

Today the group caters to thousands of eager shoppers through its over 1530 stores, 75 International brands and employing 12,000 multi cultural staff in over 4 continents. Apparel believes in turning dreams in to reality and we give everyone - our customers, our stakeholders, our employees - an equal opportunity to do so.

Apparel group has carved its strong presence not only in the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, and Saudi Arabia but opened thriving gateways to market in India, South Africa, Poland, Singapore, Jordan, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia. Additionally, clear strategies are in place to enter emerging markets such as Hungary, Pakistan, Egypt and Philippines.